Douglas Davis was born in Barbados and was introduced to hip-hop by listening to cassettes of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and DJ Hollywood, writing lyrics, forming his own group and participating in rap battles under the name Doug E. Fresh. In the immediate aftermath, he learned to beatbox by listening to other artists' records at Bobby Robinson's record store and became popular for this ability, attracting the attention of Kurtis Blow, who enlisted him to beatbox on tracks produced for the Fat Boys.
In 1983, Doug E. Fresh made his debut with the single "Pass the Boo-Dah" (based on "Pass the Dutchee") with Spoonie Gee and DJ Spivey as the trio Boo-Dah Bliss Crew for Top Flight Records. The following year, he also made his solo debut with the single "Just Having Fun" produced by Bobby Robinson's Sound Makers Records and Enjoy Records, both of Spoonie G's uncle Bobby Robinson, in addition to releasing the single "The Original Human Beat Box" on Vincent Davis' Vintertainment.
In 1985, along with his new DJ crew known as the Get Fresh Crew (Barry Bee and Chill Will, with whom he released "Just Having Fun") and new addition MC Ricky D, Doug E. Fresh signed to the newly formed New Jersey hip-hop label Danya/Reality Records, a subsidiary of Fantasy Records, where the group released the single "The Show", a song that uses the melody from Shuki Levy's "Inspector Gadget" theme. As a b-side to the single, the group created "La-Di-Da-Di", performed by Slick Rick with Doug E. Fresh beatboxing. These two songs launched the careers of both artists and are considered among the greatest classics in hip-hop history. "The Show" achieved considerable commercial success in the UK, reaching the top ten. In 1986, Slick Rick left the group, which released its first studio album.
The production by Dennis Bell and Ollie Cotton is funky and skeletal, extremely flat, while Doug E. Fresh's rap is quite simple with a discrete interpretation, despite not really saying anything all the time. MC Ricky D saves the album with the addition of the remix of "The Show", the only strong piece of the whole package, where the emcee flies. "Play This Only at Night" has a rocking rhythm, a sparse interpretation and a chorus left to the sample, which lives on a ghostly piano in the background that recalls "The Exorcist" (1973), but which is actually taken from another horror cult, "Phantasm" (1979).
Released by Reality Records, distributed by Danya Records, the album is received lukewarmly by both critics and the public, approaching the top 20 among rnb albums. Not recommended, 6/10.
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